Voters Re-elect 21 Incumbents 3 In Op Ousted

Lomelo Foes Win

Only eight incumbents lost their jobs, but the changes brought by Tuesday`s municipal elections could be significant in at least three cities.

(BU) In Oakland Park, three who formed the core of a controversial conservative majority on the City Council were ousted.

(BU) In Sunrise, control of the City Council shifted from supporters of John Lomelo to a faction bitterly opposed to the suspended mayor.

(BU) In Tamarac, Helen Massaro returned to the City Council she dominated for a decade until her defeat last year; her victory was expected to solidify Mayor Philip Kravitz`s control of the council.

Elections were held in these and 13 other cities Tuesday as 37 council or commission seats were filled and 23 referendums were acted upon. Twenty-one incumbents won.

A total of 74,186 people voted, less than 25 percent of those eligible to vote in the 16 cities.

``It was a light turnout, so it was easy to count,`` said Supervisor of Elections Jane Carroll, whose office produced the final computer tally at 9:46.09 p.m., one of the earlier times in recent memory.

``Fort Lauderdale pulls the turnout down every time,`` added Carroll, whose computer said that 17,484 of Fort Lauderdale`s 85,259 registered voters showed up at the polls: 20.5 percent.

Most of them voted for incumbents Robert Dressler, Robert O. Cox, John E. Rodstrom Jr. and Richard A. Mills. They will join newcomer Jim Naugle on the City Commission.

Dressler is again mayor because he won the most votes, 17 percent. Cox was next with 15 percent, followed by Rodstrom, 14 percent; Naugle, 12 percent; and Mills, 11 percent.

``I think that basically what the voters are saying is let`s keep the city moving the way it has been,`` Dressler said, with Cox adding: ``We haven`t created the kind of controversy some of our neighboring cities have.``

That could refer to Oakland Park, where the voters ousted three incumbent City Council members.

The council, dominated by the conservative majority, once adopted a resolution encouraging residents to own handguns and recently issued vehement anti-abortion proclamations.

Mayor Glenn J. Dufek and council members Charles H. Howard and Catherine Thompson lost to Council President H. Keneth Powell, Caryl Stevens and James F. Loss.

The election, Stevens said, ``meant the people of Oakland Park are not happy with the present council. The issues this council was bringing up had nothing to do with city business.``

``No, not really,`` countered Dufek, who ran for the council this year because the selection of mayor, once made by the electorate, will now be done by council. ``I just think it was a lot of (campaign) money and a lot of name calling, a lot of nasty stuff.``

In Sunrise, three opponents of Lomelo swept to easy victories.

Dan Pearl, a former council president who lost the 1983 mayor`s race to Lomelo, won 60 percent of the vote against incumbent Councilwoman Nancy Rankine, often identified as a Lomelo supporter.

But two other incumbents, both sworn enemies to Lomelo, won just as easily. Bill Colon defeated Russell Posner with 59 percent of 11,585 cast, while Larry Hoffman captured 63 percent against Roger Brian Wishner.

``It seems the press has done one hell of a job to destroy the city of Sunrise,`` said Lomelo, who is scheduled to stand trial in June on federal charges of extortion. ``It`s going to be hell for the next couple of years.

``I don`t believe the indictment has anything to do with it,`` said Lomelo, who announced the results to a crowd of about 250 supporters who gathered at Whiting Recreation Hall. ``We just didn`t get enough people out there to vote.`` About a third of Sunrise`s voters went to the polls.

``It was a defeat to Lomelo,`` Pearl countered. ``I was running against Lomelo, not Nancy Rankine. He ran her campaign and got her financing.``

Colon said much the same thing, telling 150 supporters at a shopping plaza on Sunset Strip that ``I think this is a definite cry that the city has had enough of Lomelo.``

In Tamarac, Helen Massaro made a triumphant return to politics, capturing 62 percent of the vote to defeat incumbent councilman Allan C. Bernstein.

Massaro, who nearly quit politics following her defeat last year after 11 years on the City Council, promised to change many of the policies adopted by the slate that swept her and Mayor Walter Falck from office.